Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 12A … Read more “Mephisto 3064 by Don Manley”
Month: May 2019
Sunday Times Cryptic 4851, 19 May 2019, by Robert Price — Scherzo in “Be Sharp” (See?)… minor
This all seemed fairly straightforward, and straightforwardly fair, but wittily engaging and elegantly clued. I doubt if anyone will have had major problems. This afternoon at an event remembering Jonas Mekas (1922–2019), I learned that … Read more “Sunday Times Cryptic 4851, 19 May 2019, by Robert Price — Scherzo in “Be Sharp” (See?)… minor”
Times Cryptic Jumbo 1381 – put your records on
Crikey, these come around quickly when you have a couple of bank holidays in quick succession so I’m afraid you’ve got me again. So here we have another puzzle with a bit of a popular … Read more “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1381 – put your records on”
Times Cryptic No 27354 – Saturday, 18 May 2019. Low hanging fruit, and high art?
I started quickly, picking the proverbial low-hanging fruit. Things changed about halfway through, and the rest was a struggle. The obscurity and artistry of many clues had me doubting answers even when I saw them. … Read more “Times Cryptic No 27354 – Saturday, 18 May 2019. Low hanging fruit, and high art?”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara
A gentle Friday offering from Mara today. Nothing too difficult, I think, as I was all done and dusted in 4:40. Lots of neat surfaces added a bit of extra fun to the solving and … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara”
Times 27359: Land of Hope and Gloriana, Victoriana, ‘toriana
Once again far from the hardest puzzle of the week, but the schedulers were on to a winner if they were looking for a blogger likely to pleased by the TLS-y contents of this grid. … Read more “Times 27359: Land of Hope and Gloriana, Victoriana, ‘toriana”
Times Quick Cryptic No 1358 by Pedro
I crept in a few seconds under my target but I was slow to get going today, only getting 6 of the acrosses on a first read through (1,6,8,10,17,19). It was a case of gradually … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic No 1358 by Pedro”
27358 Thursday, 23 May 2019 Drag night?
Certainly not as tough as yesterday’s, and I stopped the clock at 17 minutes dead. You do need a tiny bit of history awareness for the battleground and there are a couple of archaisms that … Read more “27358 Thursday, 23 May 2019 Drag night?”
Times 27357 – back to the North West Frontier, or the Great Lakes?
An odd mixture of clues I thought in this one, some easy, some eyebrow-raising and some downright hard unless you had served your time in the British Raj. I couldn’t find any link to May … Read more “Times 27357 – back to the North West Frontier, or the Great Lakes?”
Times Quick Cryptic 1357 by Rongo
Good fun – not a total giveaway for me, as I was held up by the eternal youth and the anagram at 22ac (which for some reason would not come to mind). I was glad … Read more “Times Quick Cryptic 1357 by Rongo”